Downloading Older iPhone Firmware / IPSW Files

Wondering where you can get all the older iPhone firmware files from? Here’s the direct download links for all of the iPhone IPSW firmware files from version 3.0.0 on up through 6.1.0 for iPhone 2G, iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS, and iPhone 4, 4S, or 5. Note that we are not hosting the files, they are direct links to Apple’s web servers.

Older Versions of iPhone IPSW Firmware Downloads

The firmware files can be quite large (600MB in some cases) so don’t be surprised if it takes a while to download. It’s easiest to just right-click on the file you want and save it directly, some users experience trouble with Safari when directly clicking the download URL.

What are IPSW files anyway?

The IPSW acronym is thought to stand for iPhone Software. IPSW files are essentially just packages to deliver updates to your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch including the baseband and firmware. Anytime you update your device iTunes will grab a new IPSW from Apple’s servers. People are generally concerned with IPSW files for either exploration into the workings of iOS and the iPhone, or for jailbreaking and unlocking purposes.

Jailbreaking

IPSW files are most pertinent to Pwnage since you can use a custom IPSW file if you wanted to. You can download PwnageTool if you need it. Redsn0w works as well but may require a tethered jailbreak for some iOS versions.

Recent rulings have ensured that jailbreaking your iPhone is not illegal, although Apple maintains that it will void your warranty. For this reason if you ever need iPhone warranty service, be sure to unjailbreak your iPhone before taking it into Apple. There are mixed reports of Apple caring and not being concerned that phones are jailbroken, but your mileage may vary and it’s best to play it safe.

does anyone ever host the custom ipsw? I know you can muck around in the .plist files contained within these things to downgrade iOS but there’s a large margin of error, would be nice to just grab the modified ipsw directly

@Ali. You are the one modifying the .ipsw, that is the point. The intention is to have a clean restorative .ipsw to return back to or change yourself if you are extra brave, but what’s the point?

The custom .ipsw files created from Pwnage Tool are not what you’d want to restore from if you want to do a fresh jailbreak, that’s why you are getting a fresh package from Apple. How do you think someone tries out every jailbreak? They’re not just applying them on top of each other, they are restoring each time.

With the exception of the old jailbreaks, there isn’t much reason to host custom .ipsw anymore.

@Senator, I think Ali was assuming that someone would Jailbreak a phone, then just post the .ipsw afterwards making Jailbreaking as easy as just ‘restoring’ to the jailbroken .ipsw, I’m assuming that an ipsw is not a complete image of the phone or I’m sure people would just be doing this … if it is a complete image then ‘what the crap’, why aren’t people sharing jailbroken ipsw’s =P

[…] sister site OSXDaily hosts a comprehensive list of iPhone IPSW files to date: Download iPhone Firmware / IPSW. Speaking of IPSW’s, PwnageTool 4.1 is available to download and is a great option to […]

I’m about to pull out my hair. I’m trying to unlock my iphone 3GS IOS 4.3.3 so I can use it overseas. I installed Cydia to jailbreak and then ultrasn0w to unlock. After it not working, I since discovered that it wouldn’t unlock because my firmware ver is 05.16.02. I followed all the on-line tutorials to upgrade to 06.15.00 using redsn0w.

I’ve tried 3 seperate times to download a stock IOS 4.3.3 IPSW – but each time there are no *.IPSW files evident anywhere on my computer. There is the downloaded folder with numerous files in it, but not a single *.ipsw file. What am I doing wrong???

I used pwnage and redsnow to jailbreak my iphone (software version 3.0) to run it on Tmobile over a year ago. I am now having an issue in that the iphone on its own goes through continuous rebooting from time to time. i assume there is a corrupted system file somewhere in there.

how do i unjailbreak my phone to upgrade the software, then rejailbreak it so i can run it on tmobile again?

I am facing a problem which i am unable to solve even after spending hrs. neither i can find the solution anywhere on the internet.

The problem is described below:

1) I have a iphone 3GS with New Boot ROM
2) I had jailbroken it on version 4.0.1 through jailbreakme.com and had cydia installed
3) I was browsing system folders through iFile application from cydia and out of curiousity I deleted many folders including system, app etc and suddenly the iphone went blank
4) I dont have backup of my SHSH
5) Now when i try to restore IPSW file (3.1.3, 4.0.1, 4.1) through itunes 9.2/10.1 I get 3014/3194 error
6) I tried Redsn0w 0.9.6 b6, iREB, Sn0wbreeze 2.1 etc but none seems to work

Please if anyone can kindly suggest me how to solve this issue I would be grateful to him …….as of now my iPhone is like a brick

I am having this problem for the last 3 days which is every time i tried to downloaded the 3.1.3 ipsw to restore my 3G iphone, i found DMG files in the file that i donloaded from here which i can’t even know how to use’em. please note i have vista running on my PC.
So please helllllllllp. please response quickly thank you to all

Thank you for quick response, but not what i want, i need to get out [ipsw] file from the dmg file which i just donwloaded. [018-6482-014.dmg] i have file like this.
please help me to understand.
thanks

I need your help guys, i am just waiting to get out IPSW file from the stupid DMG file, becuase i want to downgrade my iphone from 4.1 to 3.1.3 using snowbreeze 2.0.2.
please helppppppppppppppp.
please note every time i donwload the 3.1.3 firmware im getting DMG’s file
thanks

Hello my iphone 2g is unlock/jailbreak I’m on software version 3.0. I tried to erase and restore my settings and now my phone is stuck on the apple logo. I know how to get it to come up in itunes. I’m trying to upgrade it to 3.13 but I’m using itunes 10 do I need to use another version of itunes? because every time I try to restore the 3.13 ipsw file itunes say firmware file is not compatible. Please help!!

Anyone can help me please….i’ve reseted my iphone & erase all data and settings. But idk if it would also delete the carrier, now my iphone network is locked, no signal & no carrier..& i couldn’t restore it on itunes…keeps getting error 3194 even ive add the 74.208.105.171 gs.apple.com gs.apple.com at the bottom line, but i cant open the hosts file with admin privileges since im using windows 7…anyone can help me to get my carrier & network back please pm/reply…i apriciate it very much!

I can’t say this enough. Do not download your ipsw software from anywhere. You’ll just end up with redsn0w at the waiting for reboot window and iphone stuck in dfu mode. Use the ipsw in your apple updates folder only. Do not upgrade your baseband until you’ve check the version of your iphone and read the warnings, because you will spend a lot of time trying to fix your bricked failed flash of the baseband, thats going to take time and reading to fix.

I’ve tried it. It works perfectly for all versions. After you download the ispw firmware that had given from them or you can search from the web engines, do not extract it. Open the File, Click File, And Click Save Archive Copy As. And type .ispw at the end of the sentence before saving. And Done! You get an ispw firmware without cracking your brain. Try it!

Hi Dear,
I have Iphone 3G and I tried several times to unlock it. Finally I partially unlocked it then the WIFI did not work. I tried to restore to the original firmware, but it gave me error 1015 then I tried again and it gave me error 2000. I was trying to download ISO 3.0.1 but each time I tried to restore it using the downloaded ISO it does not work??it asked for xx.ipsw….but I could not find any file with that extension…pls help

I have used the pwnage tool to try to jailbreak my iphone 3gs 4.2.1 baseband 5.14.04. I went through the process of creating a custom .ipsw and when i tried to restore the iphone via itunes i get the error message that the phone could not be restored because the firmware is incompatible. What should i do now? I wanted to jailbreak and then unlock this phone without having to change the baseband. THanks for your help.

Have I missed seomthing here? I’m trying to download the IPSW for 4.3.5 for the iPhone 3GS and followed the instructions to “…right-click on the file you want and save it directly.”

When I right click on the iPhone 3GS link in iOS 4.3.5, the link in the title bar says the file is the IPSW file, but it saves as a ZIP file. Examination of the contents of the ZIP file fails to find any IPSW file.

Is it the wrong file (i.e. an error on the website)? Is there something else I’m meant to do to get to the IPSW?

[…] button is as useful as a chocolate fire guard. I tried downloading the latest firmware from Download iPhone Firmware / IPSW Files but pwnage tool says the firmware bundle is wrong. So far I have tried 4.2.1 4.1.0 4.0.2 and […]

Hi, my phone is a 3GS and is currently tethered by redsnow, my firmwave is 4.2.1, i tried running Greenpoison on top of my jailbreak and it won’t work. Here is my question…. I downloaded the original
IPSW 4.2.1 so now can i just restore my phone by pressing “option” button on my mac keyboard and then select the IPSW 4.2.1, will this restore make any error? and if it does can i just run Greenpoison after to end up with a jailbreak untethered…

Please help me with this matter i just do what to get stuck with all these procedure..

Louis as of today Sept 24/11 i’m waiting for a answer from one of you guys… my phone don’t need to be unlock it is running fine with my carrier Telus.

im trying to jailbreak my iphone 3Gs , i did the DFU but how come when i do it it keep coming back itunes to my iphone screen . it is so frustrating , im not good with this pleaseeeeeeeeeeee help me …. thanks

Hi. I just downloaded the ios 5 file for my iphone 4 gsm model. The file came through on my windows 7 pc as a zip file. When I extracted the file, there were a lot of other files in there, like .dmg file, but no .ipsw files. I then tried to convert the .dgm file to ipsw with Transmac, but it came up and said that encrypted files are not supported. Has anyone expereinced this problem, and does anyone have a solution? Thanx in advance

Ok, I see that Internet Explorer downloads the file as zip. If that happens, just follow this:
“I’ve tried it. It works perfectly for all versions. After you download the ispw firmware that had given from them or you can search from the web engines, do not extract it. Open the File, Click File, And Click Save Archive Copy As. And type .ispw at the end of the sentence before saving. And Done! You get an ispw firmware without cracking your brain. Try it!”
Thanks Friend

Hey friends, I have a factory unlocked iPhone 4… was trying to download the update to IOS-5 from itunes but there is always some network error… how can i update it to IOS-5 here…. has anyone tried successfully? any feedbacks/issues?

Does the update HAVE to be nearly 800MB!!?? I just downloaded iOS5 last night and it took 8+ hours to download the 777MB file. Now I have to download ANOTHER 800MB!!! C’mon! Can’t they just patch the new bits in??? :-(

hi i downloaded red snow 0.8 and the firmware 3.0 for my iphone 3gs, extracted red snow then extracted the firmware, but it says excytpion loss when i try to extract the firmware and cant browse to find the firmware, what am i doing wrong or do i have to download a different firmware because its not the right firmware?

[…] I chose to download the iOS 5 firmware from Apple’s server (you can find the links for iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch) instead of updating directly from iTunes. If you updating from iTunes (you need a […]

Hi friends i want solution to unlock and jailbreak iphone 3gs base-band 06.15.00 5.1 , how to do it , if any solution please add links of software’s. right now i am having 4.1(8B117) in my iphone3gs Iphone.

My iphone was jailbroke but recently updated it so it is no longer jailbroken but now i cannot re activate it, can set the wifi up etc but wont let me activate via itunes just says no sim card even though on is inserted ive tried dfu mode several times and many other things what else could i do please any advice

If your getting .zip files when you download use Google Chrome as stated above, for some reason IE changes it to a zip file. Chrome doesn’t as I just tried it. Pulling hair out for a while on that one!!! Not sure if you can just rename it to .ipsw or not but I just used chrome.

Up on my request to At&t to unlock my iphone, they reverted back to me with a e-mail saying unlock confirmed (after 7days of wait) and provided me the steps to restore the iphone using itunes. Following the steps, i tried the same but after spending aprrox 3hr(Updating and restoring through itunes) the error message pop-up on itunes “The iphone cannot be restored because the firmare is not compatible”. My iphone is with Firmware 5.1, Jailbroken and unlocked with Gevey Sim, baseband 04.10.01. Is that make some difference?

My other question is i can update my iphone to the latest version through my iphone itself as it is giving me the option to update it to the latest version and then further i may restore it through the itunes to complete the unlock process. Will it be safe and appropriate? I was on a previous version of itunes when that error message poped-up but now i have an updated itunes version, I only want to do it to save time on again trying to update and restore my iphone through itunes which takes a long time and i am afraid it may give the same error message after putting lots of efforts and time.

i did had a discussion with Apple Community but as per them my next attempt to update and restore will lead to convert my device to ibrick.

It’s because the file automatly named “iPhone2,1_6.0_10A403_Restore” when you download from IE, and there are contained the characters “,.”, so everyone should change the file name without “,.” characters in it such as “iPhone2_1_6_10A403_Restore.ipsw”. In this way the file will success to download as .ipsw format for itune

Guys my iPhone 3G won’t start and i try to restore it then in the process had this Russian writing and a cartoon on the screen. since then all that i get is error 1015. can someone help me out with this. Thank

i have a iphone4s and it is stuck at recovery screen for the longest time possible. this is an uncle’s phone who doesnt know iphone and computers and i wonder how he got it stuck tis way…i tried to use itunes to update to the latest ipsw iPhone4,1_6.1.1.10b145_Restore.ipsw with manual ipsw selection and auto mode, both ways throws me -1 error. changing cables and computers doesnt work. tried with redsnow and it cant recognize the ipsw. redsnow is latest version with 15c. tiny umbrella doesnt help too. i am at a lost how to recover for my uncle….any help? last method to try is downloading the firmware using google chrome and it is kinda slow at my workplace here…read it somewhere someone says to download the ipsw from chrome instead.

I have a problem to use my iphone 32 GB Designed by Apple in California Assembled in China Model No.:A1303 FCC ID:BCGA1303A IC ID:579C-A1303A.
It Displays a message “iphone is disabled connect to iTunes.”